


Of Lollipops and L'cie

by mmmwhatyouwrite



Category: Bayonetta (Video Games), Final Fantasy XIII
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-10
Updated: 2015-04-22
Packaged: 2018-03-22 05:42:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 5,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3717259
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mmmwhatyouwrite/pseuds/mmmwhatyouwrite
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After the events of Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Lightning creates and new world and moves on into it. It just so happens that it is the world in which Paradiso and Inferno rage against each other. Accidentally bumping into each other at the mall, the worlds of both Final Fantasy and Bayonetta will collide with each other as they team up to take down the menacing threat emerging from Inferno... and it seems to take the shape of Fal'cie.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is my very first fanfic I've ever written! I will post each chapter individually as they are written. I hope you guys enjoy reading it, and tell me if I should add any characters or plots into the story. Thank you!

“New flavor, Cereza?”  
Bayonetta snapped back into focus at the mention of her name. She took another taste of the mango lollipop she had picked up in the store.  
“Mango. It tastes as though I’m on the Hawaiian beach. Did you get everything you needed, Jeanne?” Bayonetta asked of her friend.  
“Just the lace. I just feel like a lady wearing it, “Jeanne smirked with a small toss of her long, blonde hair.  
“I feel like a lady when I’m whipping angels. Enzo, would you be a dear and hold this for me? Thank you.”  
With a quiet thud, the bag fell onto the already enormous heap of clothing that the fat Italian man was carrying.  
It had been a most eventful day. Shopping, making sure to pick up a brand new bag of pops was key, but the nice dress was an added bonus. An even bigger bonus would be it not getting torn to shreds like the last two. The trip to Fimbulventr had not been a fun one, but she did miss Loki. However, it seemed she would always have Luka to stalk her.  
Luka. The reporter who had gone through hell to keep the younger her safe. It was he who had created the lollipop monster that she was, and it made her like him even more. He was off galavanting with Rodin now, but she was sure that she would see him soon.  
Why did she feel that way? Luka had a tendency to show up only when excitement started.  
A glimmer caught Bayonetta’s eye, and she did a perfect split just in time for a golden blade to whiz right over her hair.  
“Oh, someone wants to play, Cereza,” Jeanne said as she drew the portal to Purgatorio, “Lets make sure we show them a good time.”  
“I’m sure it will be delightful,” Bayonetta said in an equally sultry voice and she entered the portal.  
Leaping into action, the two found themselves facing three Applauds and one Beloved. A Beloved was a very strange sight in the city, but there was no time to think about that now.  
Pushing up her glasses with Rosemary, one of the quad of guns she had on her, she leapt into action, shooting one Applaud fatally with a foot gun while simultaneously slapping another with her two handheld guns. After both had been dealt with, she saw Jeanne deliver a crunching blow to the third, sending it crashing into the Beloved’s giant body.  
Jeanne caught Bayonetta’s eye and winked. Knowing what to do next, Bayonetta jumped towards the Beloved’s face. She heard Jeanne’s cover fire as she shot at the legs of the giant angel.  
With a giant kick, Bayonetta rebounded off of the angel’s face. When she landed, she knew it was time to finish. Putting one hand behind her head, she spoke the summoning words, and her hair extended up and then down into the ground. Behind the Beloved, a portal to Inferno opened and the figure of Bayonetta’s contract demon emerged. Taking out a giant blade, Madama Butterfly stabbed the beloved without any mercy. With the deed done, the lady demon winked at Bayonetta before returning to the recesses of Hell.  
Returning to the human world, Bayonetta popped a new lolly into her mouth.  
“Job well done, Jeanne,” she mused.  
“The job isn’t done until we’re too tired to shop anymore. After all, it is Enzo’s money,” she laughed.  
With a genuine smile, Bayonetta was, for the first time in five hundred years, truly at peace.  
What she didn’t know, is that it wouldn’t last very long. In fact, when she accidently bumped into a woman with pink hair, it ended that very moment.


	2. Chapter 2

Even though it seemed like an eternity ago, Lightning had only been in the new world a few months. Along with all of her friends, she had defeated Bhunivelze and freed souls in Nova Chrysalia, and now she lived in a simple house with her sister and her husband.  
Along with Hope Estheim, Oerba Dia Vanille, Oerba Yun Fang, Sazh Katzroy, and Snow Villiers, Lightning had become a l’cie. Blessed by the Fal’cie, divine beings tasked with watching over humanity, l’cie were blessed with magic and abilities that made them almost alien to other humans.  
L’cie get a focus that they must complete from the fal’cie, and all that they get to start is a blurry vision. Lightning and her team all got a vision of Ragnarok, the being to was supposed to destroy Cocoon, the mini-planet the lived on. They interpreted the vision as though they had to stop the beast and save Cocoon from destruction. They succeeded, but Vanille and Fang became crystallized for the next few centuries.  
After the events of the l’cie, they were released and allowed to live as normal humans again. However, Etro, the goddess of death, whisked Lightning away to be her guardian. Serah, who had been both reunited and then separated from her sister in the matter of minutes began her quest which would take her life.  
All Lightning’s life had been the military and turmoil. She had lived for a thousand years without peace. Now that she had it, she found she couldn’t enjoy it as she had hoped.  
“Light, you gonna come shopping with us? Serah wants to snag some deals at the department store,” Snow said jovially.  
“Please Claire, you have to get out of the house sometimes… embrace the outcome of everything. We’re all together and that’s what matters. Have some fun with us!” Serah pushed.  
Who was Lightning to refuse the request of the sister she fought so hard to save?  
“Alright, but I probably won’t buy anything…” Lightning rolled her eyes.  
“Yay! Thank you!” Serah said in delight, “Snow, I got to her to come along!”  
Snow popped around the corner from the kitchen.  
“Wow. It’s not that I doubted you, but its that she never goes anywhere…” Snow said dryly.  
“Well maybe I just won’t come if it’s upsetting you that much.”  
Snow’s eyes widened in mock horror and he whispered to his wife, “Oh hell, she does have a sense of humor…”  
Accidently dropping the serious face she was wearing, Lightning did something she hadn’t done in a long time. Smiled. Everything was so right, and maybe it was time to put the past behind her.  
They left the house a few minutes later. Lightning told Serah and Snow that she would chauffeur them around and that they could sit in the back together. Snow could hardly believe how nice she was being and he pestered her about it all the way to the mall.  
Upon arrival, Lightning dropped off the pair at the bookstore. Serah had wanted to pick up some new reading material, and Snow liked looking at the magazines. Particularly the motorcyle ones, and Lightning believed he missed Shiva, his eidolon from his time as a l’cie. Admittedly, even though she’d had one final adventure with Odin, her Eidolon, it hadn’t been the same. He’d made quite the chocobo steed, but she missed his giant majesty, and the grace of his horse form.  
Dismissing her thoughts, Lightning parked the car and began to walk by all of the shops, searching for one that might interest her. After a few minutes of walking, Lightning simply sat on a nearby bench and admired the lovely day. Sunny, balmy, and the green garden around her was lush and well kept. The world of Pulse had been beautiful, with its almost alien plants and wild animals…  
“Damn it Claire, stop thinking about it,” Lightning whispered fiercely to herself.  
She picked herself up again and began to walk once more. When she was passing by a beauty shop, she bumped into a woman with short, dark hair.  
“Sorry about that,” Lightning said, reaching down to pick up the bags she had knocked out her hands.  
“It’s really no issue, dear. What’s your name?” the tall woman asked.  
Her legs were her most obvious feature. They were long, but extremely well shaped. She must get really good exercise. Her glasses made her seem intelligent, but if Lightning had to make one observation, it was that this woman seemed dangerous. It was her calm, nearly seductive voice that helped.  
“I prefer to go by Lightning, but you can call me Claire if you want,” Lightning said curtly.  
“Another girl with two identities! We already have something in common,” the woman said in a disarmingly friendly voice, “My real name is Cereza, but I prefer to go by Bayonetta.”  
Lightning smiled, “At least my name isn't the only weird one.”  
Bayonetta smiled in turn, “Right?”  
She turned to the woman with long, blonde hair beside her, “Jeanne, meet my new acquaintance, Lightning.”  
Two really attractive and seemingly nice ladies, with an aura of danger about them. Lightning wanted to figure out their secret.  
“Hello Jeanne,” Lightning said.  
“Hello yourself. May I be frank?” Jeanne asked out of the blue.  
“Its never stopped anyone before, go ahead.”  
“You seem to harbor pain. Mind sharing? We've had quite… interesting lives ourselves,” Jeanne said slowly, as it pondering her words.  
Lightning sighed in relief, “Whatever it is, I can most definitely match it. Lets talk in here,” she motioned to a coffee shop.  
When they sat down, Lightning told her story. Bayonetta and Jeanne’s eyes widened at every turn, but didn't seem surprised by any of it. How could they not be?  
“Are their stories just as crazy as mine?” Lightning thought to herself.  
When she finished, Bayonetta and Jeanne just stared at her for a while.  
“That was quite the tale…” Bayonetta said in wonder, “It’s amazing to me that you were able to able to go on.”  
“Quite a marvel indeed,” Jeanne put in.  
“Your turn,” Lightning said, raising her eyebrows expectantly.  
Bayonetta cleared her throat, and in her what seemed to be naturally sultry voice, started, “Well, for starters, me and Jeanne are called Umbra Witches.”


	3. Chapter 3

Bayonetta continued after receiving a blank look from her new friend with pink hair.  
“We are all that’s left of a clan that existed for centuries. The rest of us are all dead. Our heavenly counterparts are all but wiped out as well,” Bayonetta said, and then looked at her fingers.   
Balder, her father, had taken all of Aesir’s evil into him at once, and had gone back in time. Bayonetta was the one to have killed him, but she hadn’t known what she was doing.   
As if reading her mind, Jeanne gave her a sympathetic look and continued for her.   
“So you see, Lightning, as Umbran Witches we are contracted and serve the Inferno. When we came of age, we contacted with a demon. We gain the power and wisdom of a demon in exchange for our soul when we die.”  
Lightning’s eyes widened only slightly. Bayonetta was amazed at how well she was taking it, but then realized that her story was just as insane as theirs, if not more.   
“That’s… quite the exchange. What’s the point of these abilities if you aren’t putting them to use?” Lightning inquired.  
“Well you see dear, we kill pesky angels whenever they decide to “grace their presence” in Purgatorio, the plain in between the trinity. I know how it sounds, killing angels, but they aren’t anything like the stories kids are told,” Bayonetta explained.   
“We simply enjoy it, is all,” Jeanne finished.  
The pair continued their story. The defeat of Jubileus, the creator, Bayonetta’s memory loss, the events at Fimbulvetr…  
As the hours of recollection ticked by, it came time for the shop to close, so the femme fatale continued their conversation outside on the park benches.   
“Our stories have many similarities… but the one thing I can’t figure out is how this world has existed for centuries, but Bhunivelze created it only a few months ago for me…” Lightning pondered.   
“God’s lie, sweetie. Trust us, we know a thing or two about that,” Bayonetta said with a chuckle.   
Lightning smiled, but then her face turned more serious.   
“Does one have to be born an Umbra Witch, or can one become one?” She asked suddenly.   
Bayonetta and Jeanne looked at each other. They had seen this question coming. They knew that this girl was bored, and felt like she needed a new mission.   
“There’s no way of knowing without testing it… Why? Care to find out if you’re a sister of the Witches?” Bayonetta winked at her.   
“I would, yes. I wouldn’t ever admit this to Serah or Snow, but I miss having the power of a l’cie. It gave me a purpose, something to strive for. Now, I have no idea what to do with my life. Can you test me, tonight?”   
Now smiling herself, Jeanne answered her, “Why, I think we the time. What do you think Cereza?”  
“Anything for a potential sister!” Bayonetta beamed.   
Suddenly, everything in the city seemed to go dead quiet. Bayonetta and Jeanne froze for a moment, and then suddenly guns were in their hands. Lightning poised herself as well. If the two witches were on guard, she should be as well.   
All was silent for a few seconds, but suddenly the sky shone a bright and brilliant gold.   
“I think this might be your chance, Lightning,” Bayonetta warned her, “Just clear your mind, and let your instinct guide you.”  
“That’s all fun, but I think the first test would be if she can see us in Purgatorio,” Jeanne pointed out.   
Bayonetta nodded and drew the portal to the middle plane. She stepped through, and saw the first of the Applauds fly out of the sky. Looking back at Lightning, she could see her struggling to see what was going on.   
“Can you see me, dear?” Bayonetta called out, knowing that this was the determining point.  
“Yeah, but you’re really blurry. Like, you’re there, but I don’t wanna know you’re there,” Lightning said.  
Laughing, Bayonetta dragged her through the portal and felt pure joy. Three Umbran Witches were better than two.   
Finally looking surprised, Lightning looked at the angels… and then leapt at them.  
“Lightning, catch!” Jeanne called out to her.  
A gun sailed out of her gloved hands and landed perfectly into the palm of Lightning’s. With a roundhouse kick and one bullet, the first Applaud met its demise.   
As more angels came through the portal to Paradiso, Lightning’s gun sang out its savage cry. Bayonetta and Jeanne leapt into action, clearing their own paths.   
Tripping and pointing the gun at the final angel’s face, Lightning heard a sound that made her skin crawl. A roar, feral, loud, and very familiar.  
“Wha-... What is that?” Jeanne asked of Bayonetta.  
Lightning looked up to see a huge, four legged beast come hurtling out of the clouds. With giant horns, and ribbon like membranes coming off of the head, there could be no mistake.  
“Behemoth.”  
How could one of the most dangerous creatures from Pulse have come from a portal to Paradiso? Lightning didn’t exactly have time to ponder, as the beast crashed to the ground and charged at her. Jumping skyward, Lightning landed on its back and emptied an entire clip into the behemoth’s head.   
The beast seemed more angered than hurt. Lightning thought she saw Bayonetta do a weird pose. She heard Jeanne tell her to get off, and in one single moment Lightning jumped and the behemoth was sent flying into the nearest skyscraper.   
“What the hell did you just do?” Lightning asked incredulously.   
“Madama Butterfly just helped me tear that monster a new asshole,” Bayonetta said matter-of-factly.   
Lightning remembered listening to Bayonetta explaining her contract to the Mistress of Atrocity.   
“You can summon parts of her to fight? I want to get in on that!” Lightning said excitedly.   
“Binding yourself to a demon isn’t something to be taken lightly, dear,” Bayonetta warned, “Your soul is theirs when you die. They treat you well, but before agreeing to eternity in Inferno, you should consider-”  
Looking at the witch dead in the eyes, Lightning simply said, “No hell is worse than the life I’ve had.”  
“Well okay then. I’ll have to speak to Rodin to get a portal prepared,” Bayonetta said, and looked at her freshly bought eighteen karat gold watch, “However, it will have to be tomorrow. Rodin would be absolutely delighted to have me call at this hour.”  
“Serah and Snow will be expecting me back anyway. I should leave. Thank you for listening to my long-winded story today, and for helping me to uncover my new power. I feel like I can be useful again,” Lightning said, turning and walking down the now deserted street.   
Sharing a sympathetic look with Jeanne, Bayonetta couldn’t help but also feel like she’d saved a lost soul. Lightning obviously needed a purpose to continue living, and it was a purpose she needed, Bayonetta was more than happy to give it to her.   
As the two witches walked away, they failed to notice the glowering beast return back to Paradiso with a faint flash of lustrous light.


	4. Chapter 4

The next day, Lightning woke up to bright sunlight. She stood up and realized she had crashed so hard she forgot to take yesterday’s clothes off. But that meant… yep. Angel blood everywhere: Bed, floor, and bathroom.   
“Damn it,” Lightning muttered to no one in particular. She took to scrubbing her room down for an hour, and not a moment too soon did Serah knock on her door.   
“Claire? You up? I’ve been hearing a lot of shuffling going on… You don’t have a man in there do you?” She mocked.   
“Haha. You’re so funny, Villiers,” Lightning retorted in jest.  
Opening the door, Serah gave her a good morning hug.   
“God Claire, from one sister to another, you gotta take one hella shower,” Serah strained to say through a wrinkled nose.   
“I know, I was just about to until you started giving me crap. Thanks again for putting up with my long hold up last night.”  
Now Serah put on her deduction face, “You said someone dumped a near whole thing of ketchup on you and then you fell asleep in my car… I had to have my ape sized husband carry you into you room.”  
From somewhere in the recesses of the ground floor, a laugh traveled up the stairs followed by a snotty, “She’s much fatter than she looks.”  
“Snow Villiers, I’ve punched you so many times in all the years we’ve lived, and trust me my fist is getting itchy,” Lightning echoed her voice, mixed with false malice.   
“Be nice, sis. He’s my boytoy.”  
With a pretend gag, Lightning journeyed into the bathroom and took an intensely long shower, thinking about what events this day would bring. It was another gorgeous day, and she decided to try exercise. Putting on a loose t shirt and shorter shorts, she took to the street.  
After running around the city park a few times, she took her rest on a nearby bench. She blinked when she realized it was the same bench that she had sat in yesterday. As she sat in wonder, a tall, slightly menacing, dark skinned man walked up and sat next to her. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it with… his finger?  
In a surprisingly smooth voice, he asked, “You’re Lightning right?”  
Lightning remembered Bayonetta saying something about a man who would help her contract to a demon.  
“Depends, are you Rodin?” she requested.  
He surprised her again with a hearty laugh, “I think we’ll get along just fine. Bayonetta didn’t tell me you were hot… this’ll go much better than I thought.”  
Lightning was stunned at his bluntness and stammered, “Excuse me? I’m anything but attractive…”  
“Well that makes you the first to-be Umbra Witch who doesn’t flaunt her sexuality,” Rodin said with amusement.  
“Yeah… I had noticed that Bayonetta and Jeanne were awfully confident with themselves.”  
“You have to learn too,” Rodin began, “If you aren’t confident in yourself, how can you fight angels? How can you prove to a demon that you’re worthy of contract?”  
“I got through a hell of a lot more than that on just anger and pure adrenaline,” Lightning said sullenly.  
Rodin laughed again, “Now you are my type of woman. Sexy and full of bloodlust. Well, maybe not bloodlust, but piss and vinegar to say the least.”  
Lightning blushed again, and the two just sat in silence for a moment. Rodin seemed to be enjoying making her feel uncomfortable.   
“So when are we going to begin?” Lightning said suddenly and impatiently.   
“How about now?”   
Without a moment to doubt the path she was taking, a red portal appeared beneath the two of them, and they fell into Inferno.

 

__________________________

Bayonetta sat on her chaise, and wondered if Lightning and Rodin had hit it off.   
“He’s probably hit on her at least twice by now,” Jeanne said with a smirk.  
“Oh most certainly. I do hope she’s smacked him. He could use it,” Bayonetta said curtly.  
They paused for a moment, before Jeanne said what they were both thinking.   
“Think she’s got what it take to survive down there?”   
“Oh you know me, I’m never one to doubt myself, dear. Not to make a pun, but she’ll give them hell,” Bayonetta said with a callous wink, “Not to mention, Rodin won’t anything happen to his new eye candy.”  
Jeanne raised an eyebrow, “Is that jealousy I hear in your voice Cereza?”  
Bayonetta dismissed the entire notion with a flip of a hand, “Jeanne, you know I’m not interested in demons.”  
“A human then, perhaps.”  
“Ugh, enough!” Bayonetta left the room, leaving a very proud looking Jeanne behind. 

__________________________

It had been a hard landing, but Lightning stood up with a moan. Rodin was sitting on a rock with his damnable cigarette, looking at her expectantly.   
“Pretty hard landing, maybe we should go back.”  
“And you’re a dick. Lets move,” Lightning said maliciously.   
Rodin lead the way as he chucked.   
“Bayonetta tell you about what I do?” He asked her.  
“She said you were a weapon smith of some kind. Judging from your stature, creepy shades, and smooth voice, I”m gonna have to say demon,” Lightning deduced.   
“Gold star, newbie!” Rodin mocked yet again, “Not to worry. I’m a lover, not a fighter.”  
Now it was Lightning’s turn to chuckle. Here she was, in a vast black jungle, the sky a churning red cloud, and the smell of death anywhere, and this man still found time to take a pass at her.   
As if sensing her thoughts, the demon man said, “I at least have to try, alright?”  
“Try all you want, but please do it without speaking. Much more attractive that way.”  
“You wound me greatly,” Rodin chuckled.   
The two continued their witty banter as they traveled through the jungles of hell. However, when they came over a rise Lightning saw something that made her stop dead in her tracks.  
“It can’t be... why would it…” She stammered.  
Off in the distance, Lightning could see a giant sphere of pure crystal, held up by the thinnest of crystal pillars.   
“What is that, Lighting?” Rodin asked her.  
She could only whisper, “It’s Cocoon.”


	5. Chapter 5

Never taking her eyes off of the magnificent piece of crystal, Lightning advanced forward. She hadn’t seen her home in nearly a millenium, and now that she could she didn’t know how to feel. Why was it in Inferno? This was hell, and Cocoon had been a paradise to her, something to be protected. Could it have been that the Chaos that had swallowed Nova Crysallia was in fact Inferno? It really didn’t matter to her.  
She remembered Bodhum most of all, her beloved home. Right on the oceanfront, the city had been a hub of swimming and good times. She had been lucky when she joined the Guardian Corps, because she was stationed in Bodhum. Most of all, she missed those fireworks that lit up the night sky.   
“You know, its been a thousand years and I’ve always wondered what that was, but from the look on your face, I’d say that was your home,” Rodin said quietly, “Don’t worry, I don’t have the time to give too much of a shit.”  
“Thanks, for your words of… wisdom?” Lightning shot back, almost whimsically.   
Within a few hours, they reached the beginnings of the crystal pillar. Lightning touched it. Tears welled in her eyes, but she was too good to ever let them spill over. Vanille and Fang had freely given themselves to create that pillar, and it had watched over Pulse for nearly five hundred years.   
“If this part of my world is here, in Inferno, then is it possible there might be other things?” Lightning thought out loud.  
“Certainly could be, but it’s not like I know everything,” Rodin said.   
“Speaking of getting back to what I know, I need to know you’re ready for a contract. You’ll have to prove to a demon that you’re worthy enough to wield their power, or else bad shit starts to happen. For your sake, I won’t delve much deeper than that,” Rodin said, faint humor present in his voice.   
“You’re too kind,” came the sharp reply, “Of course I’m ready. I’ve put up with too much bullshit in my life to not be.”  
Her comment drew a drt, but slightly sultry laugh out of the big demon man. They walked around the pillar for about a mile, before Rodin stopped her.   
“There’s a presence nearby, and it’s big. Now’s the time,” Rodin whispered to her.   
“Alright.”  
“Before you go, I got your entire story from Bayonetta. Super long winded, but thats not the point. Point is, is that I’m a demon-smith, and smith's make weapons. Judging from your description, I believe a gunblade looks like this?”   
Rodon opened his trench coat and pulled out a near replica of her old Blazefire Sabre.   
Lightning took it into her hands, and suddenly everything felt as it should. With a single motion the gun became a lethal looking blade, sharper than any edge should ever be.   
“You truly are an artist,” she breathed, “Its so light and sharp…”  
“Quite a few demons went into that blade. Let’s just say that they were a bitch to trap. Hope it’s sexy enough for you,” Rodin said with an aura of pride.   
“Which way was the demon?” Lighting asked.  
The demon smith pointed and opened his mouth to speak, but Lightning was already gone. At a full sprint now, Lightning climbed the hill and steeled herself for whatever horror lay over it. Reaching the top, she saw something she could have never prepared for.   
“Hello Claire Farron. It’s been far too long.”  
With long purple robes and an owl on his shoulder, Barthandelus stood before her. Lightning flashed back to their first meeting on Cocoon, when he told the six of them that they were to destroy Orphan, and with him the whole of Cocoon. Back to to Oerba, when he tried to kill them. Back to Orphan’s Cradle, when he tested them for Orphan to see.   
Slowly drawing her shiny gunblade, and thinking about its first kill, Lightning said as coolly as possible, “Round four, and you’re not even scared of me kicking your ass again. You know, it’s satisfying, knowing that the phrase ‘go to hell’ actually works.”  
“Still as gruff as ever. The only problem, Claire Farron, is that I know you better than that. Your demeanor is a ruse. You hide who you truly are, not just from others, but also from yourself,” Barthandelus crooned.  
Tightening both her left fist and her sword hand, Lighting leapt at him.   
“Your mistake. Dying here will let me torment you forever!”  
With a flash of white light, quite unlike anything else in Inferno, the man was gone. In his place stood a creature that would have made anyone except Lightning gasp in shock. Several stories high, Barthandelus stood in his true Fal’Cie form. Wide faced, and with the body of a lion, the Fal’Cie laughed as if he had already won.  
“It took the six of you to kill me in the past, I’d like to see you do it alone. You do not have Pulse’s gift to protect you this time!”  
Without further hesitation, a clawed foot swung at her. If Lightning hadn’t done a limbo, it would have crushed every bone in her body.  
With inhuman speed, she lunged straight for the giant’s face. Sword outstretched, she drove it into the soft part of the beasts face. With a loud grunt, Barthandelus swatted her off, and with a sickening crunch she hit the nearly ridge. 

__________________________

Rodin watched the spectacle from a distance. He had to admit, he was curious about the backstory these two being shared. She’s gotten in a good stab, but he knew he had to intervene a little when she hit the ridge. He lit a fire with his finger, and produced a case from the flame. It opened to reveal the demon smith’s prized possession, Lucifer. The elongated sniper rifle was a deadly shade of black, and infused with the most volatile demon souls he could find.   
Pulling the bullet into the barrel, he aimed Lucifer at the stab wound and muttered, “Chin up, kid.”  
He pulled the trigger. 

_______________________

Lightning was dazed by the impact for a moment, before an extremely loud sound snapped her back into focus. It was Barthandelus, and he was.... Screaming?   
“UGH!” the Fal’Cie shrieked as he held the pace where she had stabbed him.   
Realizing this was her moment, Lightning shut her eyes and focused just as Bayonetta had told her.  
She found herself in a dark place, darker than any night could ever dream of being. The darkness was almost stifling. Strangely enough, the only thing she could see was a light off in the distance.   
There was no possible way to see the ground, if there was one, but Lightning made her way through the greasy blackness towards the single spark. As she drew closer, she could see that the spark was in fact a man. He was in a meditation pose, but he looked as if his focus was elsewhere.   
“What are you?” Lightning asked incredulously.   
The man’s eyes snapped open. Almost as if trying to focus, he looked Lightning up and down. After a moment, a sad smile swept across his handsome face. Handsome? Maybe he was, but Lightning hadn’t ever had time or energy to look at men.   
“Claire Farron. You’re even more mad than you seem,” he said.   
That voice…   
“Yes, before you say anything or try to kill me, listen to my story,” Barthandelus asked of her.   
Hand never leaving her sword’s handle. Lightning opened her ears to the story she would have never expected.


End file.
